City making progress on sewer line repair

February 6, 2013

BLACKFOOT â€” City workers are making progress repairing a a 24 inch sewer line on Frontage Road in Blackfoot that collapsed Monday morning, severely damaging up to seven homes on Riverton Road with sewage water, knee deep in some places.
Blackfoot Mayor Mike Virtue said that city workers experienced some minor glitches while repairing the line, which put them a little behind schedule. He said he hopes the repair will be completed by Wednesday afternoon.
"The system is stabilized and we have been able to keep the water level down by pumping 3 million gallons of water," Virtue said. "We've plugged the inflow and the outflow, so there is no more flow backing up." Virtue asks that those in the Blackfoot, Moreland and Groveland areas still try to minimize flushing and water drainage as much as possible through Wednesday to cut down on the amount of waste water coming through the system.
Virtue stressed that at no time has the city's water quality been comprised due to the breakage.
"The city's fresh water comes through a completely different system," he explained. "We've had people from the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality] here observing the repair process and if there had been any problem with the city's drinking water, the public would've been notified immediately."
Virtue said that they still do not know what caused the collapsed line as the full pipe has not been exposed by workers yet. It's estimated that the stretch of Frontage Road where the breakage occurred will be closed up to a week while excavation crews continue to work on the line.
Virtue believes that all of the homeowners who suffered property damage have contacted the city to start the damage claim process through the city's insurance company; however, if there is anyone out there who has not, they should call the Blackfoot City Office at 785-8600 ext. 0.
A total dollar amount on the damage incurred has not yet been determined.